THE NEW CETRA HERITAGE: IMAGO

CHAPTER 5:

CONFRONTATIONS AT THE ICICLE INN

They had left him, bleeding and dying on the floor of his home. They had taken everything he had truly valued away from him. That bastard Hojo had taken Ifalna, and Aerith, away from him.

But there was one last thing he could do.

He knew he was dead. All the way up here in Icicle Inn, there wasn't medical facilities good enough for more than broken bones and sprained ankles sustained by skiiers and snowboarders. Hypothermia was also treatable.

Gunshot wounds weren't. And he'd need to be airlifted to the nearest hospital. He would probably die, even if Shinra didn't interfere.

Better, then, to resign himself to his fate, and make the most of his time. He couldn't do anything to stop Hojo, but he could do something else.

Hojo needed them alive. And that meant that, sooner or later, they might escape, they might come back. Aerith would know her mother, but may never know her real father.

He managed to find the camera, not the one Hojo had his minions shoot, but the one he had been taking home movies of baby Aerith with. A portable camera, and one which he could use with one hand, while he kept the other clapped over his bleeding side.

"Gast Faremis Recording…Final. Intended recipient: Aerith Faremis. To anyone other than Aerith who listens to this, know that this is meant for my daughter. If anyone at Shinra finds this, and has even a shred of conscience, they will give it to her, or else tell her where to find it."

Sighing, gathering himself, hoping that the drugs he injected himself with would help ease the pain long enough to do what he needed to, he began to speak.

"Hi, Aerith. I…I wonder what you look like now, when you're watching this, or even if you're watching this. Are you five? Ten? Twenty? I hope you know I'm your father, Gast Faremis. Mostly known as Professor Gast. The Wisest Fool of all the Planet."

He winced, feeling a sharp stab of pain through the fog of opiate painkillers. Rallying, he pressed on.

"I hope your mother is with you. As much as I'd love to see her again, I know the only way that will happen is if she returns to the Planet, and…" He let out a pained sob. "Aerith, I hope your mother told you the truth about how we met. It wasn't in some romantic moment. Rather, she was a prisoner, a specimen brought to me and Hojo. And I was assigned to study her, like some sort of animal. I was so caught up in the excitement of studying an actual Ancient, rather than some fossilized remains, that I forgot that she was a human being. But gradually, that changed. I began to have feelings for her. And then, she told me about Jenova. I had used the name from some Ancient inscriptions I had translated, thinking it was the name of a long-buried Ancient. But when I compared Ifalna's biology to that of Jenova…I knew she was right. I had used a monster to help create monsters, monsters like Sephiroth and Genesis Rhapsodos. I know of at least two Shinra personnel who disappeared during the Jenova Project that I knew well: Vincent Valentine, a Turk, and Professor Lucrezia Crescent, a former paramour of Hojo and the mother of his child: Sephiroth."

He coughed up blood. Not much time now. Not much time before he returned to the Planet. But not before he said his piece.

"When we set up here, I originally intended to continue my research, only away from Shinra, and into finding a way of stopping Jenova. But your mother and I…we fell in love. And one day…Ifalna gave birth to you. That was the happiest day of my life, and I had hoped for many more, like when you learned to talk, or to walk. When you'd learn to read, or snow ski. When you have a boyfriend. But…thanks to Hojo, as you may have seen in an earlier video…that isn't to be. I'm dying, Aerith, I'm returning to the Planet. I fear death, I'd be lying if I said otherwise. But I'm afraid I will never see you become the beautiful young woman I know you'll become. But I also must place a terrible burden on you. Shinra needs to be stopped. And the results of their experiments with Jenova…they're threats to the Planet. I have left for you all your mother taught me, as well as what I have learned through my own researches. Use it well, and help save the Planet. Goodbye, Aerith. I hope you make me proud. And…I'm sorry for not protecting you better."

He then shut off the camera, and uploaded the video to his computer database. Within the hour, Professor Gast Faremis had returned to the Planet…

Aerith stared at the black screen, not knowing what to think. Of course, her mother hadn't really said much about exactly how they had met (though she mentioned Icicle Inn many times as Aerith's birthplace), but Aerith had been a child at the time, and had always wanted her father painted in the best light. It wasn't until she had been captured by Shinra recently that Hojo strove to put a pin in that particular balloon.

Not that Aerith fully believed Hojo. His cruel words when she was put into the specimen chamber made her doubt the pedestal that her father had been placed on. But she also knew what Hojo was like. He put on a cold-hearted façade, claiming to be a scientist, a creature of logic, but in truth, he was a sadist who liked inflicting pain and suffering. He was an intelligent man, but also an evil one. Even Sephiroth, his son, had, to all accounts, been a decent, if cold and ruthless, man before Nibelheim pushed him into insanity. True, now Sephiroth had become like his father, a sadist who took as much delight in causing physical torment as he did psychological. But he at least had reasons for causing pain, other than personal pleasure. Hojo was simply a sadist for its own ends.

Cloud was staring at the screen, horrified and saddened, as was everyone else present. They had made it to Icicle Inn without trouble, and had been directed to Gast's old house. Aerith would have thought it felt like home. It felt like A home, long abandoned, but not like her home. That was back in Midgar, with Elmyra.

To hear her father confess to her about these things…she felt her earlier doubts lift away. He confessed his sins, though to be honest, the worst of them were to do with Jenova rather than her mother. So she felt no hatred in her heart towards him, just a smidgen of disappointment.

She caught the eyes of Vincent Valentine, who quickly looked away. She remembered when they first met him, the tone of his voice when he mentioned Lucrezia. He had loved her, or at least been smitten with her. No wonder he hated Hojo, and not just because of Sephiroth being enhanced by Jenova cells thanks to Hojo.

"Aerith…" Cloud said, approaching her, "I'm sorry." He meant it, too.

"So am I," Aerith said. "There was a reason other than my father that we came here. Something we should have done long ago. Something everyone needs to hear. Especially you, Cloud."

Cloud blinked. "What do you mean?"

"Sit, please. Because what you're about to hear isn't going to be easy. But you need to hear it." Aerith wondered how best she would begin, before Tifa spoke up.

"Cloud…I never saw you at Nibelheim, save for at the very end, after I was wounded by Sephiroth. And even then, I was nearly dead from my injuries. I only met two SOLDIER members: Sephiroth, and Zack Fair."

Cloud stared at Tifa, as if betrayed. To be fair to him, Aerith knew it felt like one. But before he could deny it, or act in anger, Cait Sith said, "It's true, you know."

"What?" Aerith asked. "What do you mean?"

"I've been pulling all sorts of files from Shinra's military. Heidegger has a lot of files, even those of Lazard Deusericus, the former director of SOLDIER. Cloud Strife did try out for SOLDIER. But he was rejected, and recruited into the regular army, albeit with the possibility that, if he improves, he be promoted to SOLDIER. Last known assignment was heavily redacted, but the dates coincide with those you claim for Nibelheim's destruction."

Cloud went as pale as a sheet, but when Tifa tried to comfort him, he pushed her away. "Why? Why didn't you tell me, Tifa?"

"I…I was scared. Uncertain. I…"

"Don't blame her, Cloud," Aerith said. "I had my own suspicions. You reminded me of my old boyfriend, Zack. The SOLDIER whose memories you share."

"The one from Gongaga!" Cloud exclaimed, remembering Aerith and Tifa's reactions when they met Zack's parents. "But…how do I have his memories?"

"Jenova cells," Vincent said. "You have had a Mako infusion, and Jenova cells. I would put money on Hojo having experimented on you after Nibelheim. You and Zack must have escaped, and he told you what had happened when you weren't around. You were probably in an impressionable state. Hojo probably put you through the same process as those who enter SOLDIER do, and heavy doses of Mako leaves many people in a catatonic state, and the Jenova cells affect memory and appearance. Zack may have talked to you to try and help break you out of your state, not knowing that he was filling in your memories with his own. It was neither your fault nor his own. Unfortunate circumstance led to this. But the Jenova cells within you mean that Sephiroth has a backdoor to your mind and body. That was how he took control at the Temple of the Ancients, and at the altar in the Forgotten City."

"So that's why Cloud smelled…odd," Nanaki spoke up. "He doesn't smell of them now."

"Because I removed them, silly," Luna said. "Sephiroth can't pull his strings now, not through the Jenova cells, anyway."

"He's a master manipulator even without them," Vincent pointed out. "His words and actions are more often than not chosen with care for maximum impact. And he still has his plan. He still has the Black Materia in his possession, and there's no guarantee that he does not have a countermeasure against Holy."

"We will continue to pursue Sephiroth," Cloud declared. "I don't care how much of my memory is from someone else, the pain I felt at Nibelheim's destruction was real enough."

Harry chuckled hollowly. "Is it for revenge, or to save this world?" As everyone else looked at him, he said, looking at Cloud's eyes, "I think it's more for revenge. I know that look in your eyes, and yours too, Barrett. I saw them every day in the mirror for so long. I had everything I valued taken from me, and when I tried to take revenge, they took even more from me, save for my life."

"What would you know, fool?" Barrett retorted. His response was really just trying to match Harry, in a game of masculine one-upmanship, but he screwed up, and he knew it, when he saw Harry glare.

"More than you," Harry said coldly, standing, and striding out of the house. After a moment, Luna and Aerith followed.

Cloud rolled his eyes. "Way to go, Barrett."

"Hey, I fucked up, Cloud, okay?" Barrett retorted. "But he's come outta nowhere with that Jenova girl Luna. You can't tell me not to be suspicious. You are too."

"And so am I," Tifa said. "But Luna pointed out some things that she could have kept secret, and used them to hurt the party. What Vincent told you, Cloud, Luna figured out from the Jenova cells she had taken from you. If she was in league with Sephiroth, or else acting as an enemy, then she probably would have said it later, in order to divide the party. I find it hard to trust her wholly, but she has been upfront with us about other things. Like about her being a Jenova creature. Keep an eye on her and Harry, sure, but we have to remember the true enemies are Sephiroth and Shinra."

Vincent nodded. "We'll head to the Great Glacier tomorrow. Let's hope we can avoid killing each other before then."

Harry strode out, huffing angrily. He had been told of Barrett's past by Aerith on the trip to Icicle Inn, and frankly, Barrett probably had as much a claim to revenge as he did. But unlike Harry, whose vengeance was targeted (albeit vicious and devastating), Barrett bombed Mako Reactors, apparently causing unnecessary deaths.

Of course, he also didn't like what he saw in Barrett's face. That self-righteous nature that he saw in the mirror in his own face. The conviction that what he did was right. Thanks to Dumbledore's decisions and Voldemort hounding him and the mercurial opinions of Magical Britain, Harry's psyche was a mess. The deaths of virtually everyone he had cared about merely compounded the matter.

He leaned up against the house, and wasn't surprised to see Luna or Aerith following him. "Harry…" Luna began.

Harry held up his hand. "Save it. I need to think. Only a couple of days in a new world, fresh out of Azkaban. I haven't had time to think."

"You're hurt," Aerith said. "You're hurting. You lashed out at Barrett out of pain, didn't you?"

"Great deduction," Harry scoffed, albeit half-heartedly. Out of all of AVALANCHE, he liked Aerith the best. And not just because she was the first he had met. "I spent almost three years in Azkaban. I spent a decade in a cupboard for a bedroom, and as a slave to my supposedly loving relatives, at the whim of an old fool who thought he knew what he was doing. I spent over half of my life in one prison or another. I'm twenty-one years old. I feel like I'm seventy-one. Let's just say that I've got issues. Especially with people disbelieving me. Had enough of that when I was fifteen."

"We don't disbelieve you," Aerith said. "Well, I don't," she added.

Harry sighed. "Well, if you do believe me, just remember. Even though I have what Hermione called a 'saving people thing', the truth is, people around me tend to die. Luna's the exception, not the rule."

"You saved me from Sephiroth," Aerith said quietly.

"I saved Ginny from a Basilisk. She still died. Cutting Curse to the throat. Bled out within seconds." Harry emitted a bitter chuckle. "Do you know why I'm even bothering sticking around with you and your merry little troupe?"

"Your saving people thing?" Aerith asked.

"Got it in one. There's a minuscule ember of decency that refuses to go out. I'm done with Magical Britain, but starting anew on another world…" He frowned when he saw someone approaching them, flanked by a squad of soldiers. Said someone was a young woman in a blue suit, with blonde hair. When Aerith saw her, she frowned as well. "Someone you know?" Harry asked.

"Elena, of the Turks. Shinra's espionage and assassination wing. Vincent used to be part of them. And they want me because I'm a Cetra. And they're trying to stop us from following Sephiroth," Aerith explained.

Harry nodded, before looking at Elena. "Whatever it is you're selling, we're not buying."

This wrong-footed Elena, who looked at Aerith. "Where are the others?"

"That's an interesting metaphysical question," Aerith replied with a cheeky grin.

Luna grinned herself as Elena and the Shinra troops looked befuddled, though they raised their guns. "I like you."

"Well, we've got disarming personalities as well," Harry said. "Case in point…Expelliarmus!"

The Shinra troopers' guns all went flying at his gesture, and Harry glared at Elena. "I'm in a bad mood. Please don't make it worse."

"You must be the other Cetra we were told about," Elena said, obviously trying to conceal her shock at what happened, and failing.

"Dammit, Cait Sith," Aerith murmured. Louder, she said, "Neither of us are coming with you. We're heading to stop Sephiroth from using Meteor. Even Shinra would want Sephiroth stopped."

"My orders are to intercept AVALANCHE and secure the Cetra," Elena said.

"Well, now that you're here, I don't feel very secure," Harry snarked. "Stupefy!" Red bolts spat from his hands (and Luna's, once she realised what was going on), and knocked the Shinra troopers down, unconscious. "Now I am. Don't worry, they're fine. They're just out cold," he said to Elena, who was staring at him. "Seriously, Shinra wants a Cetra, if they can do that? Anyway, you've intercepted AVALANCHE. You've got the Cetra. Congrats. Frankly, Elena, you're out of your depth."

After a moment, Elena reached for a mobile phone, and activated it. "Reno? It's me, Elena. I've tried to intercept AVALANCHE and the two Cetra, but my men are all down. No, it was all one guy. Yeah, one of the new Cetra, well, with the one who Cait Sith says is another Jenova creature. No, I think he was trying to be nice. For a given value, anyway." She sighed. "Okay, thanks. This is a balls-up. Any luck with the nutjob? Huh. Hojo's more trouble than he's worth, I wish Rude found him dead than alive."

Harry asked, "Excuse me, is that your boss?"

"One of them," Elena replied.

"D'you mind if I have a word? Accio phone!" The phone was snatched from her hand (eliciting a squawk of annoyance from Elena), and came to his own. "Thanks," he said to the livid Elena. Into the phone, he said, "Hello?"

"Who's this, then?" drawled a nasal voice.

"I'm Harry Potter, mildly annoyed. Is this Reno?"

"Speaking. You're the other Cetra Cait Sith told us about. Well, besides the crazy Jenova hybrid. So, what d'you wanna talk about?"

"Just two things. One, in case Cait Sith hasn't told you, we've activated Holy as a countermeasure against Sephiroth and Meteor. Two, you want a Cetra. Well, I've just disarmed and knocked out a group of your troopers. Aerith's no slouch in combat, but she is under my protection, and Luna's. I am only a few days fresh out of prison, Reno, and I've got a few issues to work out. The next lot of poor bastards may not be so lucky. I want to work out my anger on Sephiroth. Please don't get in the way."

Reno laughed. "Listen to the ego on you. I mean, who the hell d'you think you are?"

Harry's eyes hardened. "I'm Harry Potter. The Boy Who Lived. The man who vanquished Voldemort. I've killed more people personally than you ever would, Reno, all of whom made my shitlist. Don't make my shitlist, or your life expectancy will go from 'senile pensioner with a bus card' to 'missing your next birthday', which would incidentally be tomorrow(1)." He then tossed the phone back to Elena. "Thanks."

Elena, nervously, nodded. But as she made to walk away, talking on the phone, she slipped on a patch of ice. And given that much of Icicle Inn was on a slope, leading to a ski-course of sorts, she began sliding down the mountain with an undignified shriek.

Now, Harry would, later, question his decision to try and help. Even by his 'saving people thing' standards, this was stupid. He could have used a Summoning Charm. And she was the enemy after all.

Instead, he ran for her, Aerith and Luna following, only to slip and fall himself. Soon, the four of them were sliding at incredible speed down the mountain, screaming all the while (Luna apparently screaming in excitement rather than fear). The slope seemed to go on forever, until finally, they were flying through the air.

Harry screamed in unison with the three women with him, before the white ground rushed up at him, and everything went dark…

CHAPTER 5 ANNOTATIONS:

And here we go, the first episode of The New Cetra Heritage: Imago finished. Hope you enjoyed it, despite the repeats of some parts of the story. I hope it's the new elements rather than the old that you enjoy.

1. This joke was taken from Darths and Droids, specifically Episode 727, where, upon Luke learning he is a Jedi, R2D2 responds in a similar fashion to how Harry threatens Reno. And C3PO immediately quips 'Happy Birthday!'. Darths and Droids is an extremely funny webcomic, you should go check it out.

CHAPTER 5 SOUNDTRACK:

Gast's Testament: Aerith's Theme (FTG). This is a sad moment for Aerith, watching her father die on tape, so I thought this is where it should be finally used.

Painful Truths: Who…Am I? (FTG). This is involved with many of Cloud's mental problems, and so works here.

Sliding Down The Slope: Crazy Motorcycle Chase (FTG).